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The Michael Moore accent (Kilpatrick's sentencing judge also has it). No idea where this comes from, might be a Chicago thing that bled over. It's nasally but I havent paid enough attention to see what they are doing with it. I know some other white people who have it but not many. I don't have it.

My parents are born & bred Detroiters from the City, not the Metro area. IMO it's a sound coming through the nose. Nasally and flat. There is some of that Minnesota long "o", but not as bad as MN. They pronounce all constanents, ie: but-ton and not but-n, mit-ten and not mit-n. The vowel "i" in some words sounds more like an "e", ie: "mix" sounds like "mex" . They are heavy on the "r"'s at the end of words, ie: Ti-gerrrrs. That being said, they are both 1st and 2nd gen. Detroiters with family origins direct off the boat from South. Italy/Sicily and Great Britain.

I grew up in the Metro area and am hassled by my spouse about my De-troit accent . I like to say baaahx instead of box. I do try not to sound too nasally. I can always tell a Detroiter/Metro by that. Not the Southern transplants.

Moved to NC over a year ago and people have fun trying to guess where I am from. I was once at a Costco and the cashiers held up the whole line until they figured out where I was from. I love the south.
I usually get Canada or MN, I noticed I do pronounce my o different. Born and raised in the Detroit suburbs.

I lived there for 25 years then moved away for the last 15, I had been told I had an accent but didn't "get" it, now after being away for so long..I definitely hear the accent when I'm in MI. It's kind of a drawl sound to me, and when tourists come here to HI I can immediately pick out someone from Mi or nearby by their accent.

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Ebonics is more than just a dialect. Its promulgation is a statement that black people don't want to speak like the majority of the population. It's all about creating divisions among Americans. Similar to the push for Spanish usage. America is no longer a melting pot, it's a pot of political voting blocks.

Ebonics is more than just a dialect. Its promulgation is a statement that black people don't want to speak like the majority of the population. It's all about creating divisions among Americans. Similar to the push for Spanish usage. America is no longer a melting pot, it's a pot of political voting blocks.

well is it a problem that black people want to be different than others? Or anybody for that matter? I mean everyone always refers to America as a "melting pot" but really has it ever been when two people of different races/ethnicities couldnt even get together and have a family? to the point where it was actually illegal?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by detroitlove

well is it a problem that black people want to be different than others? Or anybody for that matter? I mean everyone always refers to America as a "melting pot" but really has it ever been when two people of different races/ethnicities couldnt even get together and have a family? to the point where it was actually illegal?

I think that at one time people were proud to become American because they realized just how much better of a country we were compared to where they came from. This has not been the case for many black people because they seem to have a misconception that they would have been better off if they were left in Africa than being brought here. Truth be told, there was slavery in Africa and there still is. Most slaves were captured and sold by their fellow black Africans. Blacks in America today are much better off than their relatives in Africa. The standard of living for most black Africans is atrocious. Many horrible wars were/are being fought in black Africa (Hutus/Tutsis, Darfur, Angola, etc.).

So in my opinion, if I were a black American, I would thank God everyday that through unfortunate circumstances of my ancestors, that I, by the grace of God, live in the greatest country on the face of the earth. I would not consider myself a hyphenated American and I would do all that I could to embrace the language and customs of my beloved country.

Of course, we now have a "President" who seems to enjoy running to other countries to apologize on how bad our country is or has been. And we have a political party that can not run on sound governing principles so they resort to gaining votes by catering to racial and ethnic factions.

As to your question of marriage of different races, there are three biracial families on my street and I couldn't care-a-less what some people wearing powdered wigs and knee breeches might have thought of the matter. If the Anglos and Saxons can put aside their differences to live together, why not other peoples? Even Thomas Jefferson knew better (supposedly).

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